Thousands of students staged walkouts at schools across the country on Wednesday to protest gun violence, one month after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which left 17 students and teachers dead. The demonstrations differed among the hundreds of participating schools, but many students walked out of their classrooms at 10 a.m. local time for 17-minute protests. In some areas, the protests lasted much longer, and in New York City and Washington, D.C., students marched in the streets carrying signs and chanting slogans, such as "We want change," "Enough is enough," and "Never again." Some school districts gave students muted encouragement, while others threatened disciplinary action.

Late Sunday, after President Trump fired off several weekend tweets attacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller by name, Trump lawyer Ty Cobb said that, "in response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the administration, the White House yet again confirms that the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel, Robert Mueller." On Saturday, another Trump lawyer, John Dowd, had said it was time for Mueller to end his "manufactured" investigation. A handful of Republicans warned Sunday that firing Mueller would cross a red line, and Democrats pushed for passage of stalled bipartisan legislation to protect Mueller and his investigation from political interference and Trump's wrath.

President Trump is expected to unveil his plan to fight the opioid epidemic on Monday. An early version of the plan would have called for the death penalty against some drug dealers, but the final version is expected to be scaled back, with a call for capital punishment against drug traffickers only "when appropriate under current law," said Andrew Bremberg, the White House's director of the Domestic Policy Council. Trump will announce his new policies during a trip to New Hampshire. The administration says the plan would lead to a reduction in opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years by mixing administration actions and new laws requiring money from Congress. It includes elements focused on law enforcement, education, prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Russia's Central Election Commission said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election with 76.67 percent of the vote in a field of eight candidates. That was a record-high number for Putin, who won his third term in 2012 with 63.3 percent. In second place was communist Pavel Grudinin, with 11.78 percent, followed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky (5.66 percent) and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak (1.68 percent), the only one of the candidates to openly criticize Putin. The candidate most likely to do well against Putin, Alexei Navalny, was barred from running because of a questionable disqualifying conviction. Election observers reported widespread ballot stuffing and unusually intense pressure on voters to participate in the election.

An explosion in Austin, Texas, left two men with serious injuries on Sunday night, stoking fears that a serial package-bomber is targeting the city. It was the fourth unexplained explosion in the city this month, and police believe the latest blast is related to the earlier ones, which killed two people. The fourth blast occurred on a roadside in an upscale neighborhood, while the earlier package-bombs exploded on the doorsteps of homes. The victims in the latest explosion, both in their 20s, were walking or riding bicycles, and Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said it was "very possible" that the device went off when one of them touched a tripwire.

Underdogs shook up the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Sunday, clearing out a bunch of high seeds going into the Sweet 16. On Sunday, seventh-seeded Nevada was down by 22 points with 11 minutes to go and came back to beat No. 2-seeded Cincinnati 75-73 in the second biggest comeback in tournament history. Another No. 7 seed, Texas A&M, trounced No. 2 seed North Carolina, the tournament's defending champion, in the West region, 86-65. And in the Midwest No. 3 seed Michigan State lost to No. 11 Syracuse. The weekend got off to a historic start Friday night when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County blew out Virginia 74-54 to become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1. Xavier, another No. 1 seed, lost to No. 7 Florida State on Sunday.